


Misericordia

by soundingsea



Category: Veronica Mars - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-08-08
Updated: 2006-08-08
Packaged: 2017-10-06 05:23:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/50110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soundingsea/pseuds/soundingsea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>God isn't talking to Lizzie. Luckily, Duncan provides the perfect way to get some divine attention.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Misericordia

**Author's Note:**

  * For [girlintheattic](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=girlintheattic).



> Written for girlintheattic for buffyx's Veronica Mars Unconventional Pairing Ficathon. Request: Lizzie Manning/Duncan, non-platonic, during or after Meg/Duncan, during season 1 or 2.  
> Spoilers: "One Angry Veronica" (2x10)  
> Thanks: spiralleds and buffyx for beta-reading. Any mistakes are mine.

The first week Meg's in the hospital, Mom throws out everything in Lizzie's bedroom. Magazines, makeup, her iPod, 87% of her clothes: suddenly it's all ungodly. Overprotective much?

Dad goes off on these ranting lectures: Lizzie's supposed to be _in_ the world but not _of_ it. Hate the sin, love the sinner. Venial sins are for children, and now that she's older, everything fun is a mortal sin. It's like Meg's accident snaps everything into sharp relief: right and wrong aren't just abstractions anymore.

Apparently the doctors' tests confirm that Meg's sinned grievously. Lizzie doesn't find out the exact nature of said sin until she overhears her parents fighting about it. Prayers for indulgences might be able to erase Meg's sin of fornication and ease her way through purgatory, because she's going to die. Or at least that's how it sounds.

They get some geezer of a priest from Holy Cross to administer Extreme Unction. Lizzie wishes it could be Father Fitzpatrick from St. Mary's, but her parents are now calling him a "post-Vatican-II heretic". So, he's apparently not an option. The oil smells rank, and Lizzie resists the urge to wipe it off Meg's closed eyes. The priest mumbles in Latin, nearly inaudible. Lizzie's parents mouth along with the unfamiliar words.

After the priest leaves, Mom stops crying long enough to insist that Lizzie and Grace pray the horribly depressing Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary at Meg's bedside. Again. Lizzie misses the Joyful ones, but sees why Mom doesn't want to pray those. Lizzie's pretty sure Meg's baby wasn't implanted by the Holy Spirit coming down on her.

Lizzie wonders if it's her fault. Maybe God won't wake Meg up because of Lizzie's lack of faith (at least, compared to her family's sudden embrace of whackjob Mel-Gibson-style traditionalism). She tries to leave a blank space in her head for a voice to speak, to envelop her with warmth and to tell her that Meg will be okay.

No voice speaks in Lizzie's head. And Meg doesn't wake up.

***

Even though the school year's started, her parents pull Lizzie out of Neptune and enroll her in the same all-girls K-12 Catholic school as Grace. Grace seems to do okay there (well, better than at home), but it's serious culture shock for Lizzie.

There are more bad girls here than at Neptune. But what surprises Lizzie, actually, is how many don't miss the boys at all. She's pretty sure that's not what their parents had in mind when sending them to Saint Kate's. Not that she cares; at least a smile and a tilt of her head let her bum plenty of smokes from these girls.

She cuts class and smokes in the bathroom at mid-day, high window opened and insurance in the form of air freshener peeking out of her backpack next to her newly shoplifted flask (go Ikea). The more of a bad girl she is, the more God should be able to see that Meg's really the good one, worthy of absolution.

And if Meg stays in her coma for another week, Lizzie's about ready to try impurity with the girls here, for lack of better candidates. Sitting on the edge of the sinks, she kicks her legs into thin air and misses Neptune (and boys).

***

After school today, like every day, she takes the bus downtown to Neptune Memorial to meet her family.

She sneaks one more smoke with the scrubs-wearing employees huddled in a little stone shelter far from the hospital's side entrance. Once inside, her mouth washed out with a gulp from her flask, she sees Duncan (or the Defiler, as her dad calls him). He visits daily, but usually he'd already be at his post outside Meg's door. He's running late today, heading for the elevators with a determined set to his shoulders.

Mom and Dad won't let her use product anymore, but she washes her hair at night and braids it tightly, creating texture the next day. She's glad of that now, running her fingers through her hair and pretending like it's today's new look. The official uniform of plaid skirt and modest blouse do nothing for Lizzie's figure. She hikes the skirt up, rolling it at the waist, and unbuttons the blouse entirely, tying it off above her navel.

Meg's in a coma, and God's not there. But Duncan is. If you're not of the world, nothing can touch you. Lizzie needs to be touched. Without a word, she pulls Duncan into the nearest storage closet. His confused protest is muffled by the wooden door slamming shut.

Lizzie partakes of the same sacrament Meg did, tilting her head to taste his warm lips. Duncan fumbles at her shoulders, his hands sliding down to her hips, as if he doesn't know how to hold onto her. His breath is hot on her face as he pulls away from the kiss.

"We shouldn't--" he starts.

She silences him with another kiss, her tongue tangling with his, making conversation impossible. She knows exactly how wrong this is, and that's what gives her a warm tingle, makes her grind against a surprised Duncan and push him against a stack of boxes. She feels him hard against her and she grins. She's the bad one, the overlooked one, but even the boy who never saw her, only saw sweet Meg, can't resist her.

Duncan strokes her outer thighs and reaches under her prim cotton undies, holding her ass with large, gentle hands. This is more than she expected; she revels in the sensation, pressing her breasts against him and moving like a harlot.

Her phone rings, shattering the moment. With a muttered curse (what's another sin?), she scrambles to grab it, pulling away from Duncan. As she answers, his eyes flicker over her face while his hands drop awkwardly to his sides.

"Where are you?" asks her mom, her tones clipped with worry. With the once-good daughter all knocked-up and comafied like a bad soap opera, the once-bad one's under way more scrutiny. Sucks.

"I'm here. I'll be right up," Lizzie says, surprising herself with how casual she sounds. She wonders if the pickup on her phone is good enough for Mom to hear her heart and Duncan's. She hangs up just in case.

"I've got to..." Lizzie says, words failing her. She gestures towards the door.

Duncan edges back as if avoiding her hand. Pretty much as she expects, really. If all the time he logs sitting outside Meg's room is any indication, he had a martyr-worthy guilt complex long before this little encounter.

"I get it. If you ever need anything..." Duncan says. His body language is all avoidance. His eyes, though -- they say something more complicated.

Lizzie may be exiled from Neptune, but she still hears things. Duncan's dating Veronica Mars. He's in love with Meg. And now he wants Lizzie, and that's naughty enough for her.

"I'm cool," she says. She unties her blouse, buttoning it and tucking it in, and pulls her skirt down to her knees.

She leaves without looking back, the door slamming behind her. Duncan doesn't follow; she doubts he'll come upstairs today. But he'll be back tomorrow, keeping vigil outside Meg's door like the guardian angel a good girl deserves.

Imagining sin staining her soul, Lizzie smiles.


End file.
